Research Highlights
Arctic Ocean Field Campaign
Linkages between freshwater discharges, sea-ice conditions and primary productivity and climate changes in the sub arctic marginal seas and Arctic Ocean
[August 9, 2007]
Schematic illustration of simultaneous observation of Arctic Ocean Field Campaign 2007-2008.
Cruise Plan from Dutch Harbor (July 24, 2007) to Nome (August 3, 2007). Red circles are observation points.
The International Polar Year (IPY) is a large scientific program focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009. Scientists from around the world get involved in interdisciplinary research and simultaneous observations in order to understand polar phenomena and their influence on global environment during the campaign.
Dr. Sei-ich Saitoh and his colleagues in Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences and Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University, join the campaign. In the summer of 2007 and 2008, their training ship Oshoro-Maru is scheduled to set sail for the international collaboration of oceanographic and fisheries survey in the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea.
They carried out bottom trawl survey in 1991 and 1992 in the same sea area. This time, the team will apply the similar method and compare the latest results with that of about 15 years ago. The influence of climate change on marine ecosystem in more than a decade will be revealed and key to its mechanism will be found. This research cruise is recognized as one of the IPY activities by Ecosystem Study of Sub-Arctic Seas (ESSAS) of Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC).
These research actions are also parts of the IARC-JAXA Arctic Research. Simultaneous observation by Oshoro-Maru and by satellites will resolve mechanism of the global climate change in Arctic marine area. IARC-JAXA Information System (IJIS) is also utilized to support the project. JAXA is providing satellite data from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) and Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS).
Additionally, reporters and photographers of Japanese newspaper company Asahi Shimbun will board Oshoro-Maru during the Chukchi cruise, sending reports to Japan during the journey.
Cruise Plan in the Chukchi Sea (from August 5 to 15, 2007). Red circles and "X" marks are observation points.
Research Plans
- Investigation of Coccolith Brooms in the Bering Sea
- Optical Observation of Coastal Ocean around Estuary of the Yukon
- Investigation of Sea Ice Distribution in the Chukchi Sea
- Trawl Survey of Demarsal Fishes such as Arctic Cod
- Investigation of the Distribution of Cetacean Species and its Relationship to the Oceanographic Conditions
"Linkages between freshwater discharges, sea-ice conditions and primary productivity and climate changes in the sub arctic marginal seas and Arctic Ocean" is continuing in 2007. (PI: Sei-ichi Saitoh)
Back numbers
- Placement of Sea-ice drifting buoys in the Bering Sea in February 2007 [May 25, 2007]
- Clump of rosebay: A flash report of simultaneous observation by Hokkaido Univ., Asahi Shimbun and JAXA [Sep 1, 2006]
- Simultaneous observation by Hokkaido Univ., Asahi Shimbun and JAXA [Aug 1, 2006]
